Skinny Jeans: The Movement

The New Boyz address Jerkin' Fashion specifically in the following video clips. I think their commentary about how the 80's influenced them is really interesting. Throw back with swag...







Revenge of the Nerds... I love it!

This Nonsense Again?: Controversy Over "Sexy Robotica"

Telemundo posted about Don Omar's new video for "Sexy Robotica" and asked: "¿Canción y video ofensivo?"

From the post:

La nueva canción de Don Omar "Sexy Robótica" está en el medio de la controversia tanto por su letra como por su video musical. En el video se ven dos chicas besándose usando lengua y en la letra de la canción Don hace referencia a drogas como extasis, cocaína entre otras. Muchos críticos dicen que la canción insita a los jovenes a la promiscuidad. Tu tienes la última palabra. Opina.

[Don Omar's new song "Sexy Robotica" is in the middle of a controversy over its lyrics and music video. In the video you see two women tongue kissing and in the lyrics Don refers to drugs such as Ecstasy and cocaine among others. Many critics say that this song incites youth to promiscuity. You have the last word. Opinions.]

Really?

Yes, I think I'm going to go have massive amounts of anonymous sex while coked up and I owe it all to Don Omar.

Please.

This line of thinking is really insulting. If what they're really mad about is the depiction of two women kissing and the other "sexy robotic" moments that take place in the video than they should admit it instead of fronting like they give a shit about the well being of "the youth". This is about policing what the overall population sees, not just "youth," but youthful innocence provides a sympathetic rallying cry for such censorship.

Anyway, check out the full comments at Telemundo ... they tend to fall on familiar terrain (Fuck reggaeton, it's evil vs. Fuck you, you don't understand), but its still worth checking out.

Poncea Pokemones, Poncea!

Last week The New York Times reported on the Chilean youth parties known as Poncea Parties (a.k.a. lets make out and dry hump on the dance floor parties). The New York Times is surprisingly late uncovering the Poncea Parties. Even the less cool Newsweek covered the Poncea phenomenon in March! Come on NY Times, step up your journalistic game!

There has been a lot of recent American media coverage about the about this Chilean youth subculture and their (often public) sexual exploration (despite the NY Times' late discovery). Drawing inspiration from anime, the young Chileans refer to themselves as "Pokemones" and don piercings and flat ironed asymmetrical haircuts. Mostly the American coverage is scandalized to the point of careless reporting.

While the sexual repression of the Pinnochet dictatorship is mentioned in passing as a cause for this sexual awakening and experimentation, the focus seems to be on the perceived sexual deviance of the youth. They are not monogamous, same-sex hook-ups are commonplace, and they are actively breaking down the boundaries between public and private that dictate sexual normativity. I think the American media coverage through coded language is pointing the finger at stereotypical beliefs about Latin American licentiousness and queerness (and please believe they threw in the fact that the kids were grinding to reggaeton) as reasons for the youth's "bad behavior." Cast into a national phenomenon, the media has ignored important issues of race and class in participation in the poncea parties. For instance, who has the ability, economically and otherwise, to actually partake in these activities? Whose bodies aren't policed and survailed? Even if its deemed naughty by the mainstream, it is still dictated by issues of access so not acknowledging that is careless journalism.

Also, by isolating this particular issue of "deviant" youth sex to a Chilean context the American media doesn't have to face the fact that similar sexual activity happens regularly in schools and suburbs across the U.S. (remember the whole oral sex bracelets a few years ago?). By focusing on youth sexuality and the need for effective sexual education "over there," we excuse ourselves from doing the work around youth sexuality and education that needs to happen here.

I'm not condoning 14 year-olds giving each other blowjobs on bus benches in Santiago (because that just seems unsanitary), but I am advocating for a more complex analysis of the issues behind these parties. I'm looking for more than "Chile's disaffected 'Pokemones' don't care much about politics. They're too busy having sex." It's just not that simple so stop the simplistic journalism.

*tip of the fitted cap to Guanabee